GettyThe McCann’s have lost their final appeal to silence a former Portuguese police chief who believes they faked Maddie’s abduction.
Kate and Gerry McCann have lost their appeal to invalidate the ruling by Portuguese judges who rejected their libel complaint against Goncalo Amaral.
The Leicestershire couple sued the former policeman, after he wrote a book claiming they were wholly responsible for their daughter’s apparent ‘death,’ the Mirror reports.
GettyThe ex-cop had to pay £360,000 in damages to the couple, for his alleged libellous claims in his book named ‘The Truth of the Lie.’
He managed to overturn the court’s ruling last year, prompting the McCann’s to file an appeal with the Portugal Supreme Court against this.
Senior judges took sides with Amaral though and created a 76-page document ruling the McCann’s had not been proved innocent of the alleged crime against Maddie.
So in turn, the McCann’s lawyers created a nine-page complaint against the court ruling, in a bid to invalidate their outcome.
However, Judge Jorge Manuel Roque Nogueira has dismissed the complaint, which claims Portuguese judges were acting ‘frivolously’ against the McCanns, after Amaral overturned the court’s ruling.
The McCann’s may still decide to take the case to European courts as an absolute last resort to win their appeal, but it is thought this is unlikely.
GettyThe couple are said to be ‘disappointed but not surprised’ by the outcome.
Amaral is now set to sue the couple after winning the intense legal battle for the right to free speech.
The hunt for Maddie continues after she vanished nearly 10 years ago in 2007 from her apartment, while on holiday with her parents.
